Group Exhibition ShanghART M50, Shanghai
ShanghART Gallery presents the group exhibition Soft Frequencies at M50 Shanghai from June 5 to July 11. The show features multi-media works by artists Chen Wei, Chen Wencun, Gao Lei, Hu Jieming, Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing, Jiang Pengyi, Li Qinyang, Liang Shaoji, Lü Yan, Liang Yue, Liu Yi, Su Chang, Shao Yi, Xu He, Xiao Wenjie, Zhou Li and Zhang Wenxin.
Human perception encompasses diverse possibilities instead of operating within a single receptive mode. Daily observation tends to fix on visible and explicit subjects, leaving numerous latent states with low amplitude and slow rhythm largely unseen. Trivial moments in life, the gradual transformation of matter over years, and the composed inner state of individuals all form integral parts of reality. Soft Frequencies serves to expand the scope of perception. It helps viewers set aside external distractions and connect with the unadorned, unhurried essence of all things. Depth of perception grows from sustained attention to quiet and subtle existences. Contemporary ways of seeing favour fast and direct reception, which gradually diminishes people’s ability to observe patiently and reflect deeply. Neil Postman’s studies on media and perception illustrate how such habitual cognition leads to narrowed sensory experience. This exhibition establishes a new way of perceiving, centred on calm, restrained and unforced viewing. It invites audiences to sense the most primitive and delicate texture of things.
Soft Frequencies redefines how people engage with time, aligning with its inherent logic. In Time and Free Will, French philosopher Henri Bergson put forward the theory of duration, distinguishing measured mechanical time from authentic lived time. Standardised and divisible time is a man-made tool. By contrast, the time inherent to life and nature is an ongoing, cumulative inner duration. It cannot be split, frozen or quantified, and remains in constant natural flux. The growth of all living things, the aging of materials and the gradual refinement of human senses all follow this gradual temporal pattern. The concept of time explored in this exhibition is a return to such primordial order. It breaks away from the accelerated, fragmented and feedback-driven time of everyday life, allowing viewing and perception to move at time’s own gentle pace.
Liang Shaoji’s series Broken Landscape unfolds slowly at the centre of the gallery with intertwined silk threads. Subtle shifts of light and shadow, alongside textures shaped by the passage of time and life, fully embody the work’s quality. Liang Yue’s moving images advance at a leisurely rhythm. Jiang Pengyi’s photographic work The Monument to Solitude Bestowed by Desolation-Purity Stained experiments with the forms of light across time and space. All these works give tangible expression to temporal duration. Such sustained and subtle sensory experiences bridge the perceptual gaps brought by fragmentation and fast-paced life, maintaining consistent and balanced perception amid the continuous flow of time.
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